BEREAVED relatives are being forced to cut grass and remove weeds from around gravestones in Machynlleth cemetery due to a lack of regular maintenance, a Machynlleth town councillor has warned.

Cllr Sylvia Rowlands said that several people had complained of the state of the town’s cemetery in Tregarth, and added it looked like a “mess” and “embarrassing” for the town.

“It used to be absolutely immaculate there when we had regularly teams of two or three coming to maintain it,” Cllr Rowlands said.

“People shouldn’t have to be cutting grass and picking out weeds at the cemetery, it’s not right.”

“Since I passed on the last complaints the council have come to cut the grass [Wednesday, 1 June], but they should be coming regularly. It should be a place to take pride in but when it is allowed to get into the state it is embarrassing.

“It clearly had not been done for a while and people were complaining.

“While I’m pleased it’s been done now, there needs to be a more regular maintenance schedule put in place.”

Fellow Machynlleth town councillor Monica Atkins said the cemetery was “awfully untidy” and supported Cllr Jenkins in getting something done.

“My husband is there and it took me over an hour to clean the stone of grass and weeds,” she said.

“Many people are complaining to me about it so something needs to be done to make sure it is not left in that state again.”

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